Vicente Del Bosque’s nostalgia is reason for Spanish woes at World Cup

As a manager, Vicente del Bosque has won it all at club and national level, making him one of the most successful managers in the history of the game.

On top of that he comes across as an honest and likable man but the latter might have been the problem behind Spain’s 5-1 defeat to the Netherlands in their World Cup opener.

Spanish fans and press pointed the finger at individuals such as Iker Casillas and the centre-back pairing of Gerard Piqué and Sergio Ramos and blamed them for the heavy defeat.

The Spanish players and manager maintained a united front and stated that it was a matter of collective blame rather than individual one but the problem in fact lies in a squad selection that many believe has been assembled on reputation rather than form.

You will not find many world-class national teams whose starting goalkeeper is a reserve for his own club. Casillas has been snubbed by consecutive Real Madrid managers Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti, limiting his appearances for his club in the last two seasons to mostly Spanish Cup and Champions League matches.

Del Bosque needs to make a brave decision and drop his underperforming stars.

Like Casillas, other players such as Barcelona’s Piqué and former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso have endured very poor seasons, while Piqué’s teammate Jordi Alba has been plagued with injuries this previous campaign as well, and yet all three of them are locks in the starting XI.

When he announced his final 23-man squad, Del Bosque stated that he ‘did not have the heart to leave them out’ referring to some of the more experienced players he called up, players with whom he had won a World Cup and a European Championship but who are clearly not playing at the same standard they were two and four years ago. Which arises the question, should players be picked for their reputation instead of their form?

After the Dutch debacle, there is hope among the Spanish faithful that there will be some changes in the starting XI but there is uncertainty as to whether Del Bosque will be brave enough to drop the big names.

Players like Atlético Madrid’s revelation Koke or Bayern Munich’s Javi Martínez are pushing to get into the team ahead of underperforming teammates like Piqué or Alonso, However, it’s quite likely that Casillas will remain in goal, especially after Manchester United’s David de Gea has been ruled out for ten days with a gluteal injury.

Spain’s sudden change from perennial underachievers to world dominators came thanks to a brave generational change carried out by the late Luis Aragonés, who dropped big names like Raúl, former Blackburn full-back Michel Salgado and David Albelda in favour of a younger, hungrier generation back in 2008.

Del Bosque has to learn how to do the same now, to leave his nostalgia aside and make some big decisions that could shape Spain’s future, which starts on Wednesday in their do-or-die match against Chile.